50% of data centres in Ireland located in South Dublin area

ALMOST 50 per cent of the data centres in Ireland are located within South Dublin County, according to data discussed by the council at the recent monthly meeting.

Solidarity Cllr Kieran Mahon raised a question asking for a breakdown of the quantity of data centres in the county council area and how it shapes up nationwide.

In response, South Dublin County Council outlined that the most recent figures are from May 2021 and that 61 out of the 66 data centres nationwide were in the great Dublin area. 50 percent of this, are located within South Dublin.

It is estimated that there is around 70 operational data centres in Ireland as of early 2022. There is some 34 operational data centres in South Dublin and a large proportion of these, 23, are within the Grange Castle/Profile Park/Dublin 22 vicinity.

According to the statistics, which were provided in the Bitpower Energy Solutions Biannual Report, there is two centres under construction, eight planning approved and four in the planning process for this area.

There is 11 operational facilities in the Citywest/Parkwest/Dublin 24 area, with one under construction and four planning approved.

Earlier this year, it was voted on by councillors to ban new data centres in the county for the duration of the South Dublin County Development Plan 2022 to 2028.

People Before Profit Cllr Madeleine Johansson put forward an amendment to impose the ban and it was voted through successfully by the local representatives, with 18 votes in favour, 13 against and a single abstention.

Mega multinational companies such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon, have invested in substantial data centre infrastructure in Dublin.

Amazon’s data centre at the former Jacob’s site on Belgard Road is expected to provide much of the heat in the roll out of Tallaght’s pilot District Heating Scheme next year.

However, there is still some concerns around what impact data centres have on the national grid.

At the turn of the year, Minister Eamon Ryan warned that electricity supplies could be “tight” for the next three to four years and that data centres would not be exempt from energy conservation efforts nationwide.

As reported in The Echo, data centres draw a significant amount of power from the national energy capacity, putting strain on the grid.

It is estimated that 10 per cent of Ireland’s electricity use is currently consumed by data centres and this is expected to increase to 25-30 per cent by 2030.

Eirgrid, the national grid operator, did announce that it would not be in a position to provide data centres with connection agreements for facilities until around 2028.

Later, Eirgrid walked back on that announcement and stated that it would assess new applications on a case-by-case basis.